Remember
by Taijiya Mizu
Summary: Heero, unable to sleep, ventures outside and finds a small puppy, what connection does he have with it? Who knows. Better story than summary. Oneshot


Thought I'd try a one-shot Gundam Wing fic. Just the spur of the moment one-time thing that came to mind. I can't help it, I was watching some movie, I can't remember what it was, and I had an idea . . .

Shut up and bare with me . . . .

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing. Wish I did, but sadly I don't.

Chapter one

Heero glanced to his left at the clock on the bed-side table.

2:40 a.m.

He sighed inwardly. He was never going to go to sleep. He sat up slightly, leaning on his elbows, and looked around the room for something to do. A soft snore, though, interrupted his search. He looked over at the sleeping form of Duo in the other bed on the other side of the room. The Deathscythe piolet looked peaceful as he slept the battle from earlier off. The Wing piolet sighed again as he remembered the stressful battle.

-Flashback-

Explosions rocked souls to the core, slicing off any other sound in the area.

"How many of them are there?" Quatre's voice cried over the com-link. His Sandrock was having a hard time keeping itself together as explosions took limb after limb off of his Gundam. "Mmn!"

Trowa's voice sounded serious and slurred as he counted out the numbers of how many MS dolls there were. "About four hundred. We need to get out of here now."

"Yeah, but how?!" Duo cried but gritted his teeth as another blast shook his cockpit, causing him to slam against the harness, making a bruising sensation run through his whole body. This was bad. They didn't have enough firepower to stay out there any longer. They had to get out of there; Trowa was right.

Heero's voice screamed out a curse as four MS ganged up on him, throwing him to the ground. His arms felt like rubber as he hurled his Gundam's saber at the MS on top of him, slicing all four of them in half. His breathing sounded ragged and unreal to his own ears.

"Heero, you OK?" Duo's voice called on the com. "Heero?"

The Wing piolet took in a deep breath and coughed before answering, placing his arm around his chest. It felt like it was on fire! He had to gulp down a wave of nausea before anything escaped his throat. "Trowa's right. We have to get out of here."

Wufie's face came on the screen as he nodded. "Right. Nataku has a couple of more rounds left. You guys try to go on ahead, and I'll cover you."

Trowa and Quatre's faces came on as well. They nodded. "Right. Thanks, Wufie. Just be right behind us, OK?" Quatre said shutting off his picture.

Soon, with only a few more explosions that would haunt their dreams for years on end, they all had gotten away safely. At least as safely as they could. Hiding their Gundams, they had gone to the cabin that was close by that they had rented, or bought as Quatre would say. Seeing as how the rent cost the same amount.

-Flashback Ends-

Heero grunted as he sat up fully, rubbing his side where his aching ribs were trying to heal. They had been broken, not to mention his whole chest bruised when he had slammed against the harness.

He looked over at his partner sleeping in the other bed as Duo moaned in his unconscious sleep. As soon as they had gotten back and had gotten cleaned up, the Deathscythe piolet had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. They had been in bad battles, or losing battles, but this was worse than before. They were beaten.

The Wing piolet shook his head to clear the thought. It was not something he wanted to think about right then. He threw the covers off of his sore legs and stood up, wincing as he put his weight on them. They were black and blue and hurt, but not as much as his ribs.

He walked out of the room, carefully closing the door, as to not wake the sleeping piolet. He strode past Quatre and Trowa's room. No sound. Wufie's. None. He sighed in relief. He really didn't feel up to one of the three's speeches for not sleeping.

Striding over to the pint-size living room, he opened his laptop to see if he needed to do any more work on their previous assignments. Nothing. Heero blinked as the thought registered. Nothing needed to be done?

"Oh, well. Might as well work on Zero while I'm up," he mumbled to himself, heading out the back door to the place where they had left the Gundams, grabbing his coat on the way out. It was freezing outside, snowing like there was no tomorrow.

He walked about half a mile into the forest, stepping over dead logs covered in moss and other plant life on the way. He was half-way to the site when a soft noise reached his delicate ears. He stopped abruptly, listening for the sound again. It didn't come. 'Funny,' he thought hesitating before taking another step.

_Rustle_. _Rustle_.

There it was again! Heero stopped and looked around for anything that didn't fit the forest scene. Nothing. How could that be? There was always at least one thing that didn't fit in a forest. At least one. Besides him, that is.

_Rustle_. _Rustle_.

Heero turned around, catching sight of something in the bushes. Quietly, he made his way over to them, careful to look and see in case the sound made another move. He pushed the limbs aside once he reached it.

"Well, what have we here?" A small puppy sat looking at him with large sky blue eyes, panting as if she were out of breath, and her tail wagging nonstop.

The pup barked and licked the outstretched hand, rubbing her furry head up against it. Heero would have laughed, if he ever did, at the action and scratched the small puppy behind her ear. He picked her up and held the cold body close to him, seeing as how she was shivering slightly. Placing the pup inside his coat to where her head was poking through the collar. The Wing piolet almost chuckled as the pup licked his face affectionately.

"I guess I better get you inside. You'll freeze out here alone, you know that?" Heero said softly. The pup barked again, softer this time.

It took about five minutes to get back to the cabin.

Once Heero closed the door, he took off his coat and laid the puppy gently on the floor. The whelp just sat there until the teen was through and followed him as he headed to the make-shift kitchen.

"Let's see what we've got," Heero muttered, rummaging through the contents of the refrigerator. He pulled out leftover stake that Trowa, Quatre, and Wufie may have had last night while he and Duo dressed their wounds and went to bed, too tired to do anything.

He placed it in the microwave and cooked it while he got out a small bowl and ran some warm water in it. Setting it on the floor, he watched as the puppy slurped up every bit of it, wanting more but not begging for it. Heero smiled inwardly at that and quietly ran some more water into the bowl. The beeping of the microwave almost startled him while he was setting the bowl back on the floor. He took out the stake and sliced it up in small bites to where the pup could eat it and set it on the floor beside the bowl. The puppy quickly went to the plate and slowly gobbled every bit of the stake down.

Heero looked at the small pup. "You were hungry, weren't you?" he said picking up the plate and putting it in the sink. He'd worry about cleaning the dishes later. Picking the puppy up, he carried her to the living room, letting her lay on his lap while he sat on the couch. Wing's piolet gazed at the tired Retriever that lay in his lap, half asleep. "You look very familiar." The puppy looked up at him as the soft voice reached her ears. Heero shook his head. "Maybe I'm just tired?" The truth was, the puppy looked exactly like the little girl's pup, Mary. The same one he had killed. It couldn't be, though. They were dead. He had buried Mary in the ground with the little girl's flower and a piece of her dress. He had to wipe his eyes clear of the forming tears, trying to get that image out of his head, but like usual, it wouldn't go away. "I think I've just been in too many battles." He said and rubbed his face and then looked down at her again.

She yawned, causing Heero to do the same, suddenly tired. He laid down, bringing the puppy with him. He set the dog in front of him, hugging her closer to his chest. She licked the teen's face and snuggled closer to the warm body.

Heero sighed and closed his eyes. 'I'll just rest my eyes,' he thought before drifting off to sleep.

-G-G-G-G-G-

Duo yawned as his mind became clearer while the fuzziness of sleep lifted from it. He glanced over at the other bed beside him, and stopped as the thrown covers came into view. Heero wasn't there.

"Heero?" he asked, thinking the Wing piolet was in the open bathroom. No answer.

He got up and stood on his shaking legs, forcing them to hold his weight. Hurrying over to the door, he threw it open, causing it to slam into the wall, waking the others in their rooms as well.

"Duo, what's going on?" Quatre's slurred voice asked. He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Heero's gone!" Deathscythe's piolet cried frantically.

"No I'm not . . ." a voice came from the end of the hallway. Heero yawned and looked at the four startled faces in front of him. "Do you always have to scream at the top of your lungs every time I'm not in my bed when you wake up?" he said quietly, rubbing his eyes.

"Heero, what are you doing in the living room?" Trowa asked, stepping up behind Quatre. His greens met with the Wing piolet's blues in confusion.

Heero shook his head. "No reason."

Duo sighed but stopped as he saw Heero's face grimace in pain. The Wing piolet reached his arm up to his ribs, breathing heavily. Duo walked over to him as the others returned to their rooms to go back to sleep. "You OK, Heero?" He reached out and took Heero in his arms, letting the teen rest his head on his shoulder.

"Hai. I'm just a little tired and my ribs hurt a bit," Heero muttered into the Deathscythe piolet's shoulder.

"Let's go back to bed," Duo said quietly leading Heero back to their room.

Heero stopped abruptly as a thought registered. The puppy! He straightened up, even though his ribs complained on the movement, and rushed back to the living room, his Prussian blues scanning the area for the small dog. "She's gone," he said almost to himself.

"Who's gone?" Duo asked reaching his side.

Heero shook his head. "I couldn't sleep last night and went to see if I could repair Zero, when I found a small dog on the way. I brought her back here, and now she's gone."

Duo cocked an eyebrow at the story. "Heero, a dog can't just disappear," he said wrapping an arm around the baffled piolet.

Heero's gaze never left the place where he last saw the little retriever on the couch. "I guess I was just imagining things," he mumbled.

"Maybe. You were tired last night. You probably thought you saw her."

Heero thought about it, but he couldn't believe it. He needed more information. She just couldn't be gone. Ignoring the pain in his ribs again, he made his way to the kitchen, noticing the plate and bowl in the sink. 'I remember feeding her . . . Huh?' Heero looked down as he stepped on something that made a scratching sound. A small piece of white paper lay under his bare foot. Bending over stiffly, he picked it up, eyeing an unfamiliar handwriting.

Duo looked over his shoulder. "Looks like a kid wrote it. By the looks of it, a girl. See the little curvy lines?" He pointed to the lettering.

Heero stiffened. A little girl. The memory of that small girl and her little dog flashed in his mind, them first meeting, the small yellow flower, the explosion, her smile . . .

"What's it say?"

Heero had to gulp down a lump in his throat before reading the letter:

Gundam Pilot,

I know how you feel. It has been a long time since we met, hasn't it? I don't know your name, but Mary said it was Heero. She heard the other man say your name. She's sorry she had to leave, but no one else was supposed to see her. We wanted to tell you that, no matter what you believe, what happened that night so long ago was not your fault. The situation got out of your hands. You did not want anything to happen to anyone other than what you were assigned. It was not your fault. Please, go on and do what you feel you should do. Do not dwell on the past, for it will not help. I forgive you and so does Mary.

Flower

P.S. My mommy and daddy helped me write the right words.

Heero sniffed and wiped his eyes with his palm before folding it up and turning back to Duo as his partner asked him if he was alright. The Wing pilot smiled. A smile that made Duo warm all over. He'd never seen Heero - HEERO - smile like that. Sure, the psychotic smile and laugh was all too familiar, but this warm, hearty smile was . . . new.

"Hai, Duo. For once in my life . . . I really am fine."

-G-G-G-G-G-

Weird, but spur of the moment thing.

R&R!


End file.
